Alex Loznak

Monday, June 21, 2010

The Sunday before last, my father flew down to the Gulf Coast to document the massive BP Deepwater Horizon oil slick that has engulfed the wildlife of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. Each day, he posted on his blog the day's photos. The original posts can be seen here, at his blog, but I have put them all together in chronological order and re-posted them in their original state below.

DAY 1
6/5/10

I had no jobs planned this week in Oregon so on Friday I decided to buy a plane ticket and come out to cover the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. After a red-eye into New Orleans I drove down to the coast and arrived on Grand Isle about 2 p.m.

An oil coated brown pelican flies low over the waters of the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Grand Isle, Louisiana on Monday, June 7, 2010.

So far I have not seen any incapacitated wildlife. I'm working on getting a boat ride out to the hard hit islands near Grand Isle. The officials were not so friendly today, so I'm not sure if I'll get the access.

DAY 2
6/6/10

I photographed brown pelicans coated with oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill today at the International Bird Rescue Research Center at Fort Jackson, Louisiana.

The center has received hundreds of birds soaked with oil over the last six weeks. Many more have been recovered dead and countless others will die at sea and never be recovered.

I drove over to Gulf Shores, Alabama today to see how the Deepwater Horizon oil spill was impacting the white sand beaches. The stretch of beach at Gulf Sands State Park was blanketed with tens of thousands of small tar balls. My photos from the spill are represented by Zuma Press.

I didn't see much wildlife on the beach but I did find this cluster of small oil tainted shellfish. I think they're some sort of barnacle.Quarter sized tar balls mark the beach as three women look out at the Gulf of Mexico.

I saw several hundred workers on the beach at the state park . I don't think they were very effective in their cleanup of the thousands of small tar balls. At best, they raked up some of the oil stained seaweed.

My photo from the BP oil spill in Gulf Shores is currently leading the Zuma Press home page along with photos of Kevin Costner on Capital Hill.

DAY 4
6/10/10

An endangered Kemps Ridley sea turtle, which was rescued after being found coated with oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, is treated at the Audubon Nature Institute’s Center for Research of Endangered Species in New Orleans on Thursay, June 10, 2010. Since the start of the oil spill the center has received 32 endangered live oiled sea turtles. Six dead turtles have been found and are currently undergoing testing to see if the oil spill caused their deaths.

Many more turtles are surely not being recovered and are dying at sea.

Back on Grand Isle the oil continues to hit the beaches. I found this stuck little hermit crab in and area closed to anyone but oil cleanup folks, but I shot it with my 600mm lens.

Some of the locals are very angry, but they don't seem to have lost their sense of humor.

DAY 5
6/11/10

An egret, lightly stained with oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, hunts in the shallows along the oil soaked shore of Grand Isle. Birds have been especially hard hit by the massive Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Small bubbles form in a puddle of oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in Grand Isle. Oil from the massive spill continues to impact the coast and the entire Gulf of Mexico.

From a speeding air boat, U.S Coast Guard petty officer John Miller photographs the marsh near Cocodrie. Oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill is impacted the fragile marsh lands.

A stained oil boom floats offshore from Queen Bess Island in Barataria Bay near Grand Isle. The birds on the island have been hard hit by oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

I took a boat ride into Barataria Bay near Grand Isle today with a Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries crew. They were looking for oiled birds to capture and take to the rehab facility. They did find some oiled birds, but none were incapacitated enough to capture.

An oil coated plastic bottle floats near Queen Bess Island. I was on the water to cover the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

A laughing gull flies past the shore of an unnamed island in Barataria Bay which has been heavily stained by oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Workers use small nets to clean a beach in Grand Isle from oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Oil from the massive spill continue to wash a shore.

If any organization is looking for photo coverage of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill I'm ready and willing to travel back to the Gulf. I have the gear and experience to provide professional high-impact exclusive photos.
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email: rloznak@robinloznak.com